Perfect partner
by Evelyn92
Summary: The team get into a discussion over dinner about who their perfect lover would be, and Hotch turns out to surprise them.


The team were on a case in a town in Nebraska, fortunately for them the case wasn't as bad as some they had seen so they didn't feel too guilty taking a few hours off to go and eat a meal together at the local steakhouse.

"So who would you say is your perfect partner, it can be anyone, alive or dead, real or fictional." Garcia asked the group, wanting to liven up the conversation.

"Julie Andrews, the actress. She is classy, talented, and beautiful and has a lovely voice." Dave said wistfully.

"You sound very sure Dave, you have clearly thought about this before." Morgan teased him.

"How about you JJ?" Dave said trying to distract the team from himself.

"I think I'll go with Tom Hanks." JJ stated confidently.

"Why?" Reid asked her, his head tilting to the side like a child.

"He's funny, good with children, he seems like a nice family man and he just looks like a lovely person." She explained, those were the qualities she wanted most in a man.

"No, I can see it. Did you see that film, The Polar Express? He must have worked so hard on that film, and it certainly paid off, it's a great kid's film." Emily said excitedly.

"Do you mean kids and Emily film?" JJ teased her.

"Yes." She said blushing; she had a special place in her heart for Christmas films.

"Moving on from Emily's questionable film tastes, who would be your perfect other half Babygirl?"

"Aside from you Hot Stuff, I'd like someone with technology skills but is a total sweetheart, like Inspector Gadget or Bill Gates or Batman, yeah, any of those would be fine by me." Garcia told them, typically not being able to pick just one answer.

"Well if none of those work out for you, you've always got me and my delicious abs." Morgan flirted at her with a wink. "I'd go with someone beautiful but smart too, kind of like a Charlie's Angel, but with a sort of darker, badass side, more like Angelina Jolie's character in Salt."

"No surprises there, he just wants someone hot with a gun." JJ rolled her eyes at his predictability, while the others chuckled.

"When will you learn that there's more to a person than looks Derek?" Emily said shaking her head at him.

"Come on, you can't tell me that your perfect guy wouldn't be outrageously handsome, just like yours truly right here?" Derek said smirking.

"Actually, looks aren't that important to me, like in Beauty and the Beast; she falls in love with him even though he looks like a beast on the outside, that doesn't matter to her. I would have to go for Severus Snape, Superman or Prince Charming." Seeing the raised eyebrows from her friends she explained. "I always wanted to be the little girl who got to fall in love with a prince and got to be a princess who everyone loved. It's cheesy I know." She looked down at the table in embarrassment.

"You'll get your Prince Charming Em, you just have to kiss a few toads first." JJ patted her on the arm kindly.

"The Disney characterisation of a 'Prince Charming' actually comes from the medieval ideals of chivalrous knights in Europe, even in those times the traits were seen as ideals and not actual characteristics of real knights." Reid stated.

"They don't exist in real life, I get it Reid." Emily smiled at him sadly.

"Sure they do hun, and if we can't find one we can always dress Reid up as a medieval knight." Garcia said trying to make her laugh.

"Ooh we can give him a little hobby horse to ride around on." The two women looked at Reid devilishly; everyone else at the table knew not to be surprised now when they see Reid cantering around the bullpen on a hobby horse next week.

"So Boy Wonder, who would you like to take back to the mother ship when it returns for you?" Dave asked Reid.

"I don't know, I've never really seen someone that had the majority of the optimum traits that I find appealing in a woman; appearance isn't important to me, she would have to be smart but I wouldn't demand she had the IQ I do, I'd want someone kind, sweet and loving but also brave and strong who is passionate about what they love. I'll let you know when I find someone like that."

"All you had to do was respond with Princess Leia." Garcia teased him. Reid sat back in his chair and pouted at her which made all of the girls laugh at him.

"What about you Hotch, who would be your perfect woman?" JJ asked Hotch, who as of yet hadn't contributed to their discussion, JJ worried that it was because he had never gotten over Haley and didn't want to think about other women yet. They all listened intently, Hotch had never talked about dating or women with the team before, it was something he kept to himself, and therefore it was no surprise that the team were dying to know what his type was. He didn't require much thinking time before responding.

"Emily." He said neutrally. The team were in actual shock. JJ and Garcia both gasped loudly, Morgan's jaw dropped, Dave leaned back in his chair with a smug look on his face, Reid scrunched his eyebrows together which meant he was thinking that revelation over, probably seeing the rationality behind Hotch's choice, and Emily herself had stopped breathing altogether and was just staring at the man unashamedly.

The table was silent for so long that a waiter came and checked on them to see if anything terrible had happened to them, he left once he saw that it was nothing related to the food as Hotch was still eating.

"It does make sense for you to choose Emily, she has all of the qualities you find desirable in a woman. I never noticed before, it is very improbable that someone with all of those qualities would be in such close proximity to you, and in such a lifestyle as yours, the chances of that are miniscule. I wonder if there is an equation to work out exactly what the probability of that is. It is these rare occasions that make people believe in forms of fate and destiny, which of course is nonsense as.."

"Reid quit it." Hotch hissed at him as he noticed Emily's eyebrows disappearing further into her hairline at the mention of fate and destiny.

Dave went back to eating his steak which was now going cold, Reid was staring down at the table trying to avoid looking at Hotch or Emily in case he put his foot in it again. JJ and Garcia gave each other a look and shared a smile before starting up a new conversation between them about how to celebrate Henry's next birthday. Derek looked around the table at each person, seeing that everyone else has decided to move on from Hotch's revelation, he chose to do the same and went back to his meal, signalling to the waitress that they needed another round of drinks. Despite everyone else's actions, Emily still sat there gaping at him, Hotch hadn't looked at her yet despite her blatant staring.

Hotch could feel Emily staring at him without looking at her directly, she was sitting in the chair next to his own, he was starting to feel guilty for telling her that and worried that their relationship would change for the worse, would it be awkward now?

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." He leaned sideways to say to her without the rest of the team hearing.

"I'm not blonde." She said back seriously, thoroughly confusing him. He finally turned to face her and look her in the eyes.

"What?" That wasn't exactly the response he had expected from her, well, he didn't know what he expected her to say but it wasn't that.

"You like blondes, therefore I can't be your perfect woman." She said shyly.

"Emily, do you really think that I find you any less perfect because you have brown hair?" He only realised how forward that sounded when she gasped at him calling her perfect. Clearly all of his lawyer training in how to use words had left him as the words just seemed to fall from his mouth without his brain processing them first.

Before he could say something to dig himself out the hole he had made for himself, in order to avoid being slapped in the face or faced with a sexual harassment complaint, Emily had grabbed hold of his tie and yanked him forward. She crashed her lips against his and kissed him forcefully and passionately, he didn't hesitate for a second to respond to her in kind. He reached his hand up and fisted it in her hair, holding her against him.

They were too busy with each other to notice the rest of the team all turn to stare at them, or notice JJ and Garcia taking pictures on their cell phones, well everyone except Dave who simply looked at them, nodded and went back to his steak.

When Emily and Aaron finally parted, they sat back and smiled at each other before Emily blushed, realising that the team had witnessed the whole thing. To avoid looking at them and the expressions which told her that she's in for a grilling the next time she leaves the table, they both became exceedingly interested in their meals and started eating again, hoping that the others would follow suit.

They enjoyed the rest of their dinner uneventfully, the team acting like nothing had happened, like they hadn't just seen their boss shoving his tongue down Emily's throat. Dave had got roped into loaning out his huge house to JJ for Henry's party and Reid was listing possible gifts for his godson, with the two blondes vetoing what would definitely be too mature for a two year old. What none of them noticed was that underneath the table Aaron had been holding Emily's hand in his own since their kiss, and neither of him had any intention of ever letting go.


End file.
